This application is based on and claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 of German Patent Application 100 00 669.8, filed on Jan. 11, 2000, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
An air mass or air volume flow, particularly in a distribution network in a passenger aircraft cabin is controlled by control ling the flow through the distribution network in response to a plurality of parameters such as the flight altitude, which parameters have an influence on the flow volume.
In aircraft and particularly in passenger aircraft it is important for the passengers"" comfort that an air mass flow through the cabin is balanced. This means that the air volume supplied into the cabin must be balanced relative to the air volume taken out of the cabin at any altitude, at any temperature and at any cabin pressure. Pressures and temperatures inside and outside of the aircraft are parameters that have an influence on the air mass flow balance through the air flow distribution network comprising pipes, ducts, valves, flaps, fans, blowers, at least one fresh air turbo-engine and one or more climate packs in the aircraft fuselage.
The air mass flow in an aircraft frequently must be distributed to outlets or other air users in a variable manner. For controlling this variable distribution of the air volume, pressure loss characteristics of the flow control elements are used as control values for adjusting the flow control elements such as valves or other flow cross-section varying devices in such a manner that the air distribution follows closed loop control algorithms. These algorithms operate on the basis of known, determined, rated values for example of the pressure or temperature of the air mass flow or air volume flow through the air distribution network. The closed loop control rules for the variable air distribution are determined as variable control values or in accordance with the so-called two-point closed loop air control. Reference is made in this connection to air flow control systems in several Airbus Models such as A300, A310, A319, A320, A321, A330, A340 and A300Fr-600R. These known airflow control systems are referred to as closed loop trim air pressure control in trim air common air supply pipe.
More complex problems must be solved where it becomes necessary to control an air mass or volume flow inside an involved air mass flow distribution network simply referred to herein as network or distribution network. Such networks include a plurality of pipes and ducts connected to many air consumers and outlets that may require different air volumes to be controlled by different air distribution rules. Similar considerations apply where the entire air input volume into such an air distribution network is to be uniformly increased or diminished. Efforts have been made in this connection to individually control the air mass or air volume in each individual pipe or duct of the network. The entire air volume supply has also been controlled by varying the total air supply through variably controlling air supply units such as turbo-engines which supply fresh air into the distribution network.
Conventional air flow or volume controls make use of flow data of a common supply line of the network to provide control signals for controlling the air flow and supply. However, these conventional controls are subject to air mass flow deviations that conventionally have not been corrected. Such deviations depend for example on the variable flight altitude during ascent and descent flight and on the constant flight altitude during cruising flight. The invention aims at providing such an altitude correction of the air mass flow in the air distribution network.
A so-called G +T fan control of turbo-engines that is responsive to pressure, is known for maintaining a constant air volume supply is used in the Airbus Model A310. It is further known from European Patent Publication EP 0,926,579 A1 to control in closed loop fashion flow adjustment devices in response to the static pressure in the main air supply line or duct to provide a variable air volume supply. However, such a control does not take into account that in an aircraft the overall cabin pressure is variable. This variable overall pressure substantially influences the pressure loss characteristic of air distribution network components or elements such as valves, pipes, ducts, turbo-engines, air conditioners, fans or blowers, etc.
German Patent Publication DE 43 16 886 A1 (Bloch et al.) describes an aircraft cabin pressure closed loop control device for an aircraft wherein a closed loop controller (3, 7) compares an actual value with a rated value of the cabin pressure. The resulting signal is used to control an air outlet valve (11). The air outlet valve (11) is driven by a drive (10), the drive speed of which is controlled in closed loop fashion. The ad justed valve position itself is not sensed, merely the cabin pressure is sensed. The actual cabin pressure depends on the air supply through the valve (11) and on the fresh air supply (13) into the cabin. Thus, the valve adjustment speed is controlled exclusively in response to the difference between the rated cabin pressure value and the actual pressure value without regard to the variable performance characteristic of the valve itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,486 (Emmons et al.) describes an aircraft cabin pressure control system which is adaptable to the requirements of ascent and decent flight with the help of ascent and descent schedules which accommodate variable requirements of specific airlines, the airlines"" route structures, and regional air traffic control standards. The Emmons system includes an adaptive control logic that identifies a plurality of points generated by the schedules that define ascent and descent curves corresponding to anticipated cabin pressure change rates during ascent and descent. During aircraft flight, the logic samples and stores actual cabin pressure change rates at each of the plurality of points. After the flight, the actual cabin pressure change rates are averaged and the average rate is compared to the anticipated cabin pressure change rate at each point. An offset is then calculated representing the difference between the average actual rate and an anticipated rate, and the ascent and/or descent schedules are adapted by the offset to bring the anticipated cabin pressure change rates closer to the average actual rate. After several flights, the ascent and descent schedules are customized by the adaptive control logic to a particular airline""s requirements. Emmons et al., by expressly storing pressure change rates as a function of ascent and descent flight altitudes for use in the cabin pressure control have not recognized the need for considering other parameters for the control of air flow volumes in an aircraft.
In view of the foregoing it is the aim of the invention to achieve the following objects singly or in combination:
to correct the air mass or volume flow into and out of an aircraft cabin by making corrections with regard to the instantaneous altitude at which the aircraft is flying;
to control, in closed loop fashion, the air flow controlling elements in an air flow distribution network, such as valves, turbo-engines, fans or blowers in response to a function that takes into account changes in the performance characteristics of these air flow controlling elements, whereby these performance changes depend on pressure, temperature and altitude changes during flight;
to further take into account in the generation of the closed feedback control signal, any measuring errors, any pressure loss characteristics of the air flow controlling elements and the pressure, temperature and air flow volume inside the air flow distribution conduits such as pipes and/or ducts of the network; and
to correct or update standardized or rated performance characteristics of the air flow controlling elements with reference to current pressure, temperature and altitude data to provide updated performance characteristics for comparing with actual performance characteristics to thereby generate a control signal for controlling the air flow volume under current operating conditions.
According to the invention the above objects have been achieved by a system for controlling an air mass flow inside an aircraft fuselage in response to a current flight altitude, said system comprising a controllable air mass flow distribution network including air flow conduits (7, 7xe2x80x2, 9, 71, 71xe2x80x2), at least one air outlet (9xe2x80x2) connected to one of said air flow conduits, at least one controllable air flow control element (8, 51, 52, 53) connected to said air flow conduits for moving air through said air mass flow distribution network to said at least one air outlet (9xe2x80x2), a closed loop control unit (1) including a memory (2) for storing rated, first data representing at least one rated performance characteristic of said at least one controllable air flow control element in said air mass flow distribution network, a first group of network related sensors (5, 9xe2x80x3, 51xe2x80x2, 52xe2x80x2, 53xe2x80x2, 71xe2x80x2), a second group of aircraft related sensors (11, 12), said first and second group of sensors including pressure sensors, temperature sensors, performance sensors including air flow volume sensors, and at least one altitude sensor, said first group of sensors being positioned for sensing actual second data representing any one of actual performance characteristics, actual pressure, and actual temperature of said air mass flow distribution network, said second group of sensors being positioned for sensing actual third data representing any one of actual altitude, temperature and pressure data of said aircraft fuselage, said closed loop control unit (1) further comprising a corrector (32) having a first input connected to said memory (2) for receiving said rated first data and a second input connected to said second group of sensors (11, 12) to receive said actual third data for calculating parameter corrected data, said closed loop control unit (1) further including a comparator (31) having a first input connected to an output of said corrector (32) for receiving said parameter corrected data from said corrector (32), said comparator (31) having a second input connected to said first group of sensors for receiving said actual second data, said comparator (31) comprising an output (3) connected to said at least one controllable air flow control element of said air mass flow distribution network for controlling said air mass flow through said at least one controllable air flow control element.
According to the invention the following data are acquired singly or in combination through respective sensors for processing in a data acquisition section of the closed loop control unit:
(1) air pressure inside any of the pipes and ducts of the air flow distribution network,
(2) air pressure outside of the network including cabin pressure and atmospheric pressure outside the aircraft,
(3) the air temperature inside the network,
(4) the air temperature outside the network including the cabin temperature and the temperature outside of the aircraft body,
(5) the air volume or mass flowing through the network, and
(6) the flight altitude.
Thus, various types of sensors and/or measuring devices are used in combination according to the invention such as temperature sensors, pressure sensors, air volume flow sensors and altitude sensors. These sensors are connected with their outputs to the data acquisition and conversion circuit of the closed loop control unit or to a performance characteristics correcting circuit. The data acquisition circuit processes the respective sensor information or data to provide respective actual flow volume signals to one input of the comparator. These flow volume signals represent actual performance characteristics of the above mentioned network elements under the actual current pressure, temperature and altitude conditions. The computer section for correcting rated performance characteristics stored in the memory provides updated performance characteristic values or data for comparing with the actual performance characteristic values or data to produce closed loop control signals that will correct the operation of the controllable air flow control elements, such as valves, fans and a fresh air supply, for example provided by a turbo-engine, which will be controlled with due regard to any pressure lose in these air mass flow distribution network elements. The rated performance characteristics are established under standard operating conditions on the ground and stored in the memory such as a ROM. The invention has recognized that the rated operating conditions must be corrected with reference to current flight data operating conditions such as altitude when the standardized operating conditions such as ground level and room temperature are no longer present.